A new "low-cost housing scheme" for public sector workers is being implemented in partnership with Organised Labour and financial institutions, President John Dramani Mahama has said.

This will enable nurses, teachers, doctors, and civil servants, for instance, to be able to acquire "dignified" government-built low-cost houses and pay over a period of up to 20 years in Ghana cedis and not under the dollar-denominated arrangement many real estate companies currently offer in Ghana, the President said.

President Mahama said an innovative housing financing network anchored on a GH¢3 billion Revolving Fund in partnership with the government, Organised Labour and the private sector.

"It will enable workers to acquire homes in cedis with manageable long-term repayments. So what is going to happen is, government, organised labour, social security and the National Insurance Trust and the Republic Bank of Ghana are going to create a GH¢3 billion Revolving Fund.

"And so companies like State Housing Company (SHC), Tema Development Company (TDC) and all the housing companies will be given credit from this fund to build housing and then the banks will give mortgages for the workers to buy the houses and pay over a 15 - 20 year period," President Mahama said.

"Let me also announce that these houses are going to be indexed in cedis, not dollars..., this will solve the problem where when the cedi was under a lot of pressure, it led to increasing mortgages for people." 

President Mahama added that new social housing initiatives driven at the district level are also being rolled out to help reduce the financial burden of ownership.

"We are also pursuing geographical equity; housing must not be confined to only major cities. Regional and district capitals must also benefit from our housing initiatives."

President Mahama said this when he cut the sod for the construction of some affordable houses at Dedesua in the Bosomtwe District of the Ashanti Region on Saturday, [May 9, 2026].

Housing project

Dubbed "Dedesua Green City project," it is being developed on 200 acres donated by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

The project is expected to provide more than 1,000 housing units.

President Mahama appealed to Ghanaians in the diaspora to invest in the project, assuring that the land was free from litigation.

“Here, you will get your house built for you, complete, you collect your key, there is no litigation on the land, nobody will come and demolish your house,” he said.

He said the Asantehene has agreed to release another parcel of land to the TDC for a housing project in Kumasi.

Infrastructure

President Mahama said the government would absorb the cost of roads, gutters and drains within the Dedesua estate under the Big Push infrastructure programme.

According to him, the decision would help reduce the final cost of the houses for buyers.

Housing deficit

Touching on the country’s housing needs, President Mahama said Ghana’s housing deficit stood at more than 1.5 million units.

President Mahama said rapid urbanisation, rising construction costs and limited access to long-term mortgage financing continued to make home ownership difficult for many people.

He said more than half of Ghana’s population currently lived in urban areas, with the figure expected to rise to about 70 per cent by 2050.

Rent advance

On rent advance, President Mahama said weak enforcement of the law restricting advance rent payments to six months remained a challenge.

“Both the house owner and the one who wants to rent the property are not prepared to go and report,” he said.

He expressed the hope that phase one of the Dedesua Green City project would be completed within a year.

“I look forward to next year - coming back here to commission phase one of this Green City project,” he said.